It is known that a connector coated with mud is difficult to clean because access to certain portions of the connector is very constrained. Mud impedes mechanical and electrical operation of the connector.
In order to protect the mutually engageable elements of a connector against mud, regardless of whether the mud is splashed onto the connector element or the connector element becomes immersed in mud, proposals have been made to place a plug on the connector element or to provide a piston incorporated in the connector element and urged by a spring to a position in which the piston surrounds the connection members of the connector element so as to fill the space between the connection members, and thus prevent mud from penetrating between the connection members.
Such devices are not satisfactory. When a plug is used to protect a connector element, the plug needs to be withdrawn when the connector element is to be used for connection to another connector element. There is then a risk of the user, for lack of time, forgetting or omitting to put the plug back into place. The plug can also be lost, and even if it is attached to the connector element, there is a risk of it receiving mud or of being dropped into mud, so that it is no longer possible to close the connector element with the plug. When using a piston, mud runs the risk of accumulating in the interstices between the connection members and the piston, so that it rapidly becomes impossible to move the piston, and thus to disengage the connection members.